This cheesecake is very good and very smooth. My first couple of attempts gave the usual top cracks. I've been able to make a couple now without problems here is my approach.
When beating the cream cheese I stop frequently and place the stainless steel bowl into a sink of hot water to help soften the cream cheese so that I don't have to beat it too much.
I spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray above the crust line. This keeps the cheese cake from sticking to the sides while cooling and shrinking.
I tried to seal up my spring form pans but I was never able to keep the water from leaking in so I've never attempted a standard water bath. I do fill a small roasing pan with hot water and place it on the bottom rack of the oven...the idea here is to try and keep the moisture high in the oven.
The recipe calls for 325F. I have a convection oven and I've had really good success at 290F for 1 hour.
To help control the cooling rate I switch the oven off at 1 hour and leave the door closed. After an hour of sitting there, I will open the oven door a crack to help cool some more.
Sinfully rich and delicious. Chocoholics beware of this one! Made the recipe exactly as described no alterations. To make sure that the cheesecake doesn't crack during cooking make sure oven isn't hotter than recipe calls for. If your oven tends to run hot then turn it down 5 to 10 degrees. Turn oven off exactly as recipe describes. Also consider adding an ice cube to the bottom of the oven (I carefully toss one in before I put in the cheesecake) to add humidity.
I thought it was good but not amazing. One thing to watch for- make sure you don't add the chocolate to the mixture when it is hot- it will curdle in the cream cheese mixture. Mine turned into a "cookies and cream" pie because of that. It tasted good though. Add chocolate syrup to a slice!
The taste was pretty good but I would have prefered a slightly more chocolatey taste. Also the cheesecake cracked very badly (I cooked it for the time that it called for) so I recommend that you follow the advice section and give it a water bath while its cooking. I was therefore forced to make a chocolate glaze to cover the crack and I think everyone agreed that the glaze made the cheesecake 10X better. Just melt 1 cup of chocolate chips, 3 tbs of butter, and 2 tbs cornsyrup over boiling water, and spread it over the cake.
Delicious rich cheesecake that has gotten rave reviews from some pretty tough critics. If you can stretch your budget a wee bit I strongly recommend using imported chocolate. I've had excellent results with Callebaut. Is incredibly moist and almost mousse-like if you cook for just 50-60 minutes. (If you like it drier like a typical store-bought one cook it for 75 minutes or so.) When you remove it from the oven it is still liquid but sets-up in the fridge overnight. As others have done I wrap pan in tinfoil and cook in water bath but remove it from oven immediately when it is done and after about 5 minutes or so carefully run a knife along the sides to prevent the cake from adhering and cracking when it cools. I put in fridge when it is lukewarm/cool. Haven't had it crack yet. Top with sugared strawberries.
I'm in cheesecake heaven! This is awesome! Not too chocolatey - just right! I replaced half of the graham cracker crumbs with ground walnuts for the crust and baked using water bath instructions from this site. Topped with raspberry sauce and whipped cream this is an elegant and delicious dessert. Well, okay, breakfast! :)
Overall I really liked the recipe. I only had two problems: I tried the bath method and even with two layers of foil the water seeped in and made my crust soggy. Also my cake didn't have any cracks after baking for 55 min. I did as the recipe says and turned off the oven and left the cake in to cool but when I checked it after only 30 minutes it had a huge crack down the middle. I'll definitely make it again but without the bath and the extra hour in the oven.
The PERFECT chocolate cheesecake!! Made this along with another of the recipes here and this one was definitely the favorite. Topped with a chocolate ganache instead of sour cream. Nothing less than divine!!!
This cheesecake is heavenly. Everyone loved it. For the crust I used chocolate graham cracker crumbs. I also grated a hershey bar for decoration on top. This recipe is definately a keeper.
